Trip Report Goin' Down the Bayou: Takin' You All The Way **COMPLETE**

I sit here at my kitchen table. Paw Patrol is on the TV, toys strewn around the living room. Breakfast made, eaten and cleaned up, coffee re-heated for the third time, and Malcolm down for his first nap. It feels the same, it’s our routine. Did we really just return from 8 days in Disney or was it just a dream? I see little Minnie and Mickey crocs on my counter…Snow White and Tigger stuffed toys in Kinley’s bed… It wasn’t a dream! It was 8 caffeine-fuelled, whirlwind days through Orlando, and somehow we survived to share the story with you all! Did my WDWMagic dreams come true? Did I accomplish all the things I was inspired to do by reading all the trip reports of the past? You’ll have to read along to find out!

Some quick reminders:

Who we are:
Me! (Teresa) and DH Lukas
Our kiddos Kinley (2.5yrs) and Malcolm (5 months)
My sister Emily (@AKemily)
My parents Marj and Kevin (Or “Baba” and “Oy” as Kinley calls them)

When and Where: Feb 1-8, 2018 at POR

We had a great time but MAN are we ever tired. It is a LOT of work bringing 2 kids to Disney World (never mind your parents ). But we had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to re-living it all as I share with you because it is all still a blur in my mind. But we kept good notes, @AKemily will chime in here and there with her thoughts and feelings, and if you ever needed to see a thousand pictures of a 2 year old meeting Disney characters, we’ve got you covered!

Coming Up: Travel Day 1 - We forget something VERY important on the plane (Not a kid, don’t worry)

 

[krause]

Whoops forgot ride photos!

 

[sheriffwoody]

(Yes I bought one of those, yes I hated them when I didn’t have kids, yes I let her use it constantly while walking around the park - sorry, not sorry ).

I don't have kids and I love them! I don't want to carry one around, but I love a good wall of bubbles when I'm walking around

The CM said it sometimes jumped on guests and would freak them out. He also said that they tried to relocate this squirrel but he just kept finding his way back. It seemed like he didn't want to draw attention to it, he probably didn't want his little friend to be taken away

I just read an article about this the other day! Someone videoed the squirrel jumping on Merida.

Enjoying your report!

 

[myhappyplace]

I love the look on the man's face behind your selfie on Splash!

 

[krisri18]

I love the look on the man's face behind your selfie on Splash!

Agreed! Best photo bomb!

 

[krause]

I don't have kids and I love them! I don't want to carry one around, but I love a good wall of bubbles when I'm walking around


I just read an article about this the other day! Someone videoed the squirrel jumping on Merida.

Enjoying your report!

Oh that’s good! I don’t mind the bubbles as much just walking around, I just don’t like being behind a kid in line or for a show and getting a constant blast in the face

Haha I just looked up that article! It had no fear of people at all. It was jumping on and off and climbing up and down the CM the whole time we waited. If the CM hadn’t had long sleeves and long pants on I imagine it would have scratched him quite a bit!

Thanks! I’m enjoying your report too

 

[krause]

I love the look on the man's face behind your selfie on Splash!

Haha yeah he might not appreciate that photo

 

[krause]

We headed then to our BTMRR FP+. Me, Dad, Lukas, and Emily went, grabbing a child swap on the way because Mom thought she would want to ride.

The elusive white card:

Wooo what a wild ride! I always forget how fast that one gets!

Mom decided she didn’t want to ride but we still had 2 sleeping kids so Lukas, Em, and Dad went again (Shh don’t tell the Child Swap police).

While they were on the ride, Malcolm woke up and pooped everywhere. Blow out poops are his specialty . So I was that mother changing her screaming baby’s diaper and clothes on the ground outside of BTMRR. I followed this up by sitting on the ground and nursing him. I know it bothers people. I know people were staring. I know people were judging. I would have been before I was a mother. But such is life.


Anyhoo, after that lovely experience, we re-grouped and Emily went to fill up her water bottle. She missed the water fountain by BTMRR and went to the one at Splash. She was taking wayyy too long, so the rest of us started heading to Main Street to find a place for FoF and I texted her that. She only saw my text when she had gotten back to the exit of BTMRR . She walked to join us taking some pictures along the way.

She saw Mom and Lukas in the line for Starbucks and quickly found the rest of us. Em and Kinley went for a short shopping trip in the Emporium but Kin was grumpy so they came and sat back down. We got our Starbucks. Kin had her bacon, egg, and gouda sandwich and Princess and the Frog on Emily’s phone to keep her happy until the parade started!

A new hidden Mickey

While we sat, we people watched. My favourite was a lady running up Main Street, yelling at her kids to hurry up, because “We’re going to ride Snow White while all these people are watching the parade!”.
Oookay lady, it’s still posted at 170 minutes but good plan!

Up Next: It’s the Festival of Fantasy!!

 

[KaelyLovesDisney]

Way to do what you gotta do, Mama!
Also @AKemily ‘s Hidden Mickey ears are adorable.

 

[krause]

Now some of @AKemily's FoF photos. For a non-photographer with only an iPhone, I think some of these are amazing!

Next: A few more FoF pics!

 

[krause]

Kinley watched a YouTube video of the parade a few times before we went so she would be a bit more prepared for it. She is always upset that Aurora isn't with Prince Philip ("fip" as she calls him). She later saw Alice and dubbed her "Rora" so she didn't stay upset for long

After the parade, Em and Mom made a mad dash for the firehall bathrooms. The rest of us worked our way slowly through the crowd. Turned out Em and Mom had gotten caught up in parade and we ended up getting to the bathroom before them. They were in desperation mode

Next we got on a chilly boat ride to visit a new resort and new restaurant for all of us.

Brrrr

Next Up: More food!

 

[krause]

After the parade, we headed out of the park to get to an ADR that I was very excited for! We hopped on a boat and took a cold windy boat ride to….

Wilderness Lodge!

What a beauty.

We had a 5:10pm ADR at Whispering Canyon Cafe and we arrived around 4:20pm so we killed some time wandering around, checking out the Mercantile, and the boys grabbed (boring) beers from Roaring Fork.

We were seated just after 5:00. I had “forgotten” to warn my parents and Lukas about this restaurant. Whoops.

The server (Paul) started off by yelling at my Dad for not throwing out his beer bottle before coming into the restaurant.

“I’m sorry, there was no garbage can on my way in”, says Dad.

“Every 30 feet!! This is Disney World!!” yells Paul.

I could see Dad’s face. Trying so hard to stay calm. Wondering what this guy’s problem was.

Paul takes our drink orders. Walks away.

“Oh yeah. The server’s here mess with you”, I say.

Everyone laughs. Phew. It’s fun after that. The table next to us calls for ketchup and it all begins.

It was a good time. We were all very tired but the food was good and filling comfort food.

3 of us had the skillet. Sorry I only remembered to take an "after" picture

Mom and Lukas had the steak and both enjoyed it.

Emily had the Magical Star Cocktail and says it was truly magical. So delicious! It was very fruity but not too sweet!

I had a Strawberry Moonshine Lemonade. It was just okay.

I had no room to eat dessert so we took it to go but I never ended up eating it . Lukas loved the Apple Pie that he had.

At this point we were all done but me and Emily knew we had to see Happily Ever After. We decided to split up. We all took the bus back to MK and then Lukas, Mom and Dad took the kiddos back to POR and me and Emily went to MK.

What's the only thing better than being at Magic Kingdom WITH your kids??

Being at Magic Kingdom WITHOUT your kids

 

[krause]

We had arrived.

Now. There is only one spot in MK that I am truly happy watching the fireworks. It’s at “the line”. Do you know where I mean? When they put the tape down they leave an “emergency” walkway across Main Street.
Riiiightttt here.

It’s 6 or so feet wide. If you stand behind that walkway on the tape line, you will have 6 feet of open space in front of you. No one can stand there. Kids on the shoulders are far enough away that it doesn’t even matter. It is the best spot to see the projections as well as the fireworks. So me and Emily get there just as they are putting the tape down. We stand there, I tell Emily to plant her feet and not move. In my experience, there are other people there who also know of “the line” and you can form a pretty solid wall. The people beside us this time didn’t seem to realize that they had stumbled upon the best viewing spot in the park. We did have one man stand in the walkway in front of us with a kid on his shoulders but it didn't take too long for a CM to come along and make him move.

I love the projections, I really do. I remember seeing them the first time and thinking that it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Especially the ones that change the look of the actual castle or make it look like it’s moving. However, I’m not overly crazy about Once Upon a Time. I’ve seen it a few times now and I want to love it so badly, but it just doesn’t do it for me. I still love the projections though.

@AKemily says: I enjoyed OUAT but I really miss Celebrate the Magic. I thought that OUAT didn’t have as catchy or as emotional a soundtrack as CtM did. I also had an issue with the timeline. Why are Mrs. Potts and Chip still a teapot and cup when they are literally telling the story about how Belle and the Beast fell in love and reversed the curse?? I’m probably being too picky. I’ll try to get over it.

Then it was HEA time, finally! I did love Wishes but I was totally open to a new show. Oh. My. Goodness. It was… busy . Do you look at the projections? Do you look at the fireworks? I had to keep reminding myself that this was the fireworks show and to look up! There was SOO much going on! I feel like after seeing it a few times I would be able to appreciate it as a cohesive show but I felt torn the whole time between watching the projections and watching the fireworks. I did love it though! How can you resist singing along to Moana?? Fabulous.

@AKemily says: I loved HEA although I too felt distracted by the projections for what was supposed to be a fireworks show. There’s just so much to take in! But I did really enjoy it and think it was incredibly well done. I miss some things about Wishes but this is a good enough replacement that I think I’ll get over it.

So. We’re in the MK. No kids. Park open till 11pm. What do you do? Well. I have a confession. We became those people again. HEA ended. We ran. Full on sprint. All the way to….

Pirates!

We didn’t get to ride during the day, and we weren’t sure if we would make it here on our second MK day and how can you have a Disney trip with no Pirates??!!! You can’t. But I had a baby that needed feeding and had already pushed my luck by sending him back to the resort. So we ran. Like big crazy Disney freaks .

It was posted at 5 minutes, we waited 11, and it was posted at 45 minutes by the time we got off. Totally worth the run.

We had snagged a FP+ for Buzz but it was late at that point and Lukas had texted me that Malcolm wouldn’t go to sleep so I did the “responsible” thing and we made our way to the bus stop. We didn’t wait long and we were on a bus back to POR.

I got Malcolm to sleep, showered, and packed our bag for the next day which was another EMH day (Are you counting? That makes 3 in a row ).

Up Next: Hollywood Studios

 

[clarabellej]

Loving your TR, thanks for sharing!

You needed a spoiler alert before your Pandora pics, LOL. We go in March & I got 3 FPs for FOP, yay!!! Your daughter seems to be warming up to it all. She seemed to love Pooh & Friends the most. I remember when we took our daughter for the first time at age 5. Her first ride was Peter Pan. Not sure what she expected. It is a little overwhelming at first. So nice that your family are together. Glad Aunt and Uncle were able to save the day with the carrier. Hope you can get yours back. Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

 

[krause]

Loving your TR, thanks for sharing!

You needed a spoiler alert before your Pandora pics, LOL. We go in March & I got 3 FPs for FOP, yay!!! Your daughter seems to be warming up to it all. She seemed to love Pooh & Friends the most. I remember when we took our daughter for the first time at age 5. Her first ride was Peter Pan. Not sure what she expected. It is a little overwhelming at first. So nice that your family are together. Glad Aunt and Uncle were able to save the day with the carrier. Hope you can get yours back. Enjoy the rest of your trip!!

Thanks for reading, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

Sorry about the Pandora pictures! . I thought there were so many on here already it was kind of unavoidable by this point. Like I said before though, even though I have looked at all the pictures, it is sooo much more than you could have pictured when you actually get there. I’m happy for you that you could get the FP! Make sure you take a peek through the windows when you’re walking past the lab! (The FP queue doesn’t go through there but it’s super cool!)

Haha yeah I’m pretty sure kinleys mind was on overdrive for 6 days straight

Hoping your trip is great too!

 

[youngdeb]

Following along! 9 days until we head to the World and it has been about as cold here in Northern BC as it was when you left Winnipeg! More snow to come as well...9 days can't come fast enough!

 

[krause]

Following along! 9 days until we head to the World and it has been about as cold here in Northern BC as it was when you left Winnipeg! More snow to come as well...9 days can't come fast enough!

It was so nice to just be able to be outside. With a new baby, and winter coming early and harsh this year, we’ve all been cooped up for way too long.

Thanks for reading! Hope the next 9 days go by fast!

 

[amjt660]

We rejoined the boys at 11 and thought we would go check the single rider line for Everest.
View attachment 263024

I see you, Flights of Wonder refurb. We were super disappointed that this would be closed during our trip as we do love this show, but it is in desperate need of an upgrade and I'm hoping that they will make it really great.

View attachment 263025

I stopped at Y&Y and grabbed some fried rice for Kin. The standby for EE increased to 105 minutes by the time we walked there and single rider was posted at 60 so we decided to skip it as we had an ADR to get to! We had a quick break sitting in the RoL bleachers (so nice that these are open during the day as there is no where to sit in AK). Kinley ate her rice and we had a bit of a break.
View attachment 263031

We had time to walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek before we had to leave. The baby tigers were out but sleeping.

View attachment 263026

Dad overheard one lady talking to her friend and ranting about how the chains at the entrance to the bird area were “so unnecessary” and “SUCH a pain”. My Dad might have set them straight explaining the chains were to keep the birds in and that hushed them up .


We headed to the park exit to catch a bus to our ADR. While waiting, everyone else went to the bathroom and Emily was pushing Kin and Malcolm around in the stroller. We saw Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear walking around and Emily said Kinley FREAKED when she got close to Brer Rabbit. I was very worried going in that Kinley wouldn’t like the character M&G’s because I was hoping to do a lot of them. You’ll have to wait and see how that turned out.

While they were walking around, I stood by myself and when I turned around, Turk was RIGHT there! I jumped and screamed and everyone around me laughed. Well, what do you when a character approaches you? Take a selfie of course!

View attachment 263027

After I did that one, I figured I should start a collection so I chased down Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit. See what you miss when you go to the bathroom??

View attachment 263028
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Up Next: An ADR that never disappoints!

Loving the selfies!!!
Following along


Max

 

[krause]

Loving the selfies!!!
Following along


Max

Oh well thank you!



I learned from the best!

 

[amjt660]

Oh well thank you!



I learned from the best!

Flattery will get you anywhere you want to go

Max

 

[krause]

Day 4 - Hollywood Studios & some kind of super game February 4, 2018

So I was instructed to schedule “down time” on this trip. And I did… sort of. But I consider it a super waste to not be in the parks at rope drop That first bit of time with low crowds and walk on rides is priceless. So we were up and at ‘em and on a bus by 7:00.

We arrived at HS around 7:20am.

(Selfie game strong @amjt660)

We scanned our Mickey bands at 7:40am but there was still a rope at Sunset Boulevard.

Before our trip I bought this double stroller used and we never really tried it out before the trip because, snow. We discovered shortly after arriving that one of the wheels had a really bad squeak. I kind of liked it because I could always tell if whoever was pushing the stroller was keeping up with me . But it drove whoever was pushing the stroller crazy. So we stopped at the Wheelchair Rental place at HS to see if they had anything we could use to stop this squeak! The CM found an almost empty can of WD40 and we used the remaining drops to grease up the wheels on the stroller - worked like a charm!

No more squeak, but I had to turn around a lot more often to make sure they were keeping up .

We joined the crowd for rope drop. Our plan was to go first to RNR as we had chosen TSMM FP+ in this tier. But we needed coffee and Malcolm was sleeping in the carrier. So, Mom, Dad, and Kin went to Trolley Car to get our caffeine fix and a round of Bacon/Egg/Gouda sandwiches while Me, Em, and Lukas went to RNR.

Lukas had Malcolm sleeping in the carrier so me and Em grabbed a child swap pass and jumped in the standby queue.

There was no preshow! How would we get our backstage passes!

Side note: Has anyone else ever been in the preshow and had one of the CMs standing in the room and talking in sync with the lady in the preshow thing pretending he's talking to her? It's happened on 2 of my previous trips. Maybe it's more normal than I think. Either way, it's hilarious and I love it.

After our ride, we re-joined the group and Dad, Lukas, and Emily went for a ride. They did get the preshow. It was still EMH so there was no FP+ line, but they could still use that queue with the child swap pass. (See sometimes we actually use the child swap properly )

A funny story by Emily that I never knew about until I just read her notes on my report :

@AKemily : Having already rode RNR and having no preshow, I neglected the CMs comment of stopping before the yellow line. The doors were open and I could see people still walking through the preshow room. My mind told me - the preshow is not going on - let’s go! Only to get smacked in the face by the door. The CM inside the room kindly reminded me that the doors were closing. No kidding. Lukas had a great laugh at my expense. (My face was okay too).

Up Next: More HS